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NEW DELHI: Looking at the pace of leaks regarding the Google  Pixel 2  smartphones, it seems like the search giant will have nothing new to show when the official launch event starts. A smartphone tipster on Twitter has posted the entire specification sheet of the upcoming  Google Pixel 2 XL smartphone. According to the image revealing the specifications of the handset, the Pixel 2 XL will be sporting a 6-inch P-Oled QHD (2880x1440 pixels) display along with a pixel density of 538ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 coating. Powering the device will be an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which will likely be the Snapdragon 835, along with Adreno 540 and 4GB LPDDR4X RAM. As expected, the list shows the Pixel 2 XL will run Android 8.0 Oreo along with  Google  Assistant. There will be an 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.4 aperture and 64GB of inbuilt storage. Previous rumours indicated the handset to come in 128GB and 256GB storage models as well.

More than 1,000 incidents were reported to the National Cyber Security Centre in its first year of operation. The centre - part of the intelligence agency GCHQ - says more than half the incidents posed a significant threat. None of the incidents was category one level involving interference with the democratic system or crippling critical infrastructure such as power. But NCSC head Ciaran Martin warned there could be more significant and damaging attacks in the near future. The first year of the centre's work has been marked by a significant escalation in threats. In the past few months, parts of the NHS have been taken offline and companies hit by attacks costing them millions of pounds. The centre also had to respond to the snap general election by putting in place protections against any interference by foreign states. 'Best brains' In all, 1,131 attacks were reported, 590 classed as significant and more than 30 assessed serious enough to require a cro...

The risk of citizens' private data being stolen has grown in recent years. News stories of hacking incidents that affect millions and the potential loss of personally identifiable information illustrate the clear and present danger of cybercrimes. Adding to the risk of a data breach is the push for data access and ubiquity of information in the cloud. With more organizations relying on cloud providers to operate their mission-critical applications, risk mitigation gets more challenging for security professionals. As more agencies move to cloud computing, federal IT managers will continue to face the challenges surrounding the protection of citizens' PII. Driven by stringent regulations, the financial industry has a long record of implementing controls and policies for enforcing financial data integrity. The Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 is a set of auditing guidelines for financial reporting that includes IT security compliance. Practices the fina...

Facebook is taking a decidedly low-tech approach to tackling the spate of harmful videos posted recently on the social network. Hours before the company is set to announce its earnings for the first quarter, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed he is hiring 3,000 humans — not bots! — to help tackle the problem of harmful content on the site. The additional employees will join Facebook sometime in the next year, Zuckerberg wrote in a  Facebook post , adding to a team that is already 4,500-strong. "These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don't allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation. And we'll keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it — either because they're about to harm themselves, or because they're in danger from someone else," Zuckerberg wrote. The move comes as Facebook has been the target of intense criticism following ...

Facebook and Google are taking aim at advertisers by disabling their abilities to pinpoint users interested in anti-Semitic subjects and other hate-filled content. Facebook's restriction comes after news organization  ProPublica said Thursday it paid $30 to have its articles specifically promoted to users who expressed interest in the topics "Jew hater," "How to burn jews" or "History of 'why jews ruin the world.'" It reportedly took Facebook no more than 15 minutes to approve all three of the targeted ads. Play Facebook Twitter Embed   Facebook enabled advertisers to reach people with anti-Semitic views   2:11 ProPublica said the anti-Semitic categories were created by an algorithm and they were removed by Facebook after the company was made aware. The media outlet added that its test exposed that such anti-Semitic targeting could happen, although it was not clear if it was actually occurring. Facebook, as part of...

Amazon already accounts for about a quarter of all online sales in the United States. Now the company is holding talks to supersize its video-channel business, not just in the U.S. but around the globe. In the past few weeks, Amazon has started talks to buy scores of small television channels, several major program providers confirmed to NBC News. A representative for Amazon declined to comment, but hinted there will be much to say in the coming weeks about its efforts in online video. Currently, subscribers to Amazon Prime get TV, movies and music, as well as free shipping on online purchases. They can also pay extra for premium channels such as HBO and Showtime, along with a host of niche-interest services on topics such as health or horror. As traditional pay-TV providers scale down their offerings into cheaper so-called skinny bundles, Amazon is looking to scoop up smaller TV channels with minimal distribution in order to build itself into a video destination for every imagi...

Blockchain, the same technology that powers cryptocurrency, creates opportunities to deliver new services in new ways that previously were not possible. It also has the potential to bring transparency, security, accountability and efficiency to existing government services. This is because blockchain allows users to verify the legitimacy and validity of fund transfers without trusting a third-party to maintain account balances or relying on a single user to authorise. The decentralised technology is the solution South Africa has been searching for, providing the ability to enable our government to deliver services to its citizen in a manner that is faster, more reliable, secure and transparent. In short, the arrival of blockchain should be welcomed by citizens and the public sector alike, for its potential to prevent financial crime and eliminate the opportunity for corruption and mismanagement of public funds. While such a system can effectively be used by South African government ...